Overland, Over Time
by alifebarelylived
Summary: Quinn's taking a semester off college to see the world before it's too late. Her trip is almost over when she joins a group of other young travelers in Southern Africa for an overland safari. Quinn meets a person that both challenge her, but also helps Quinn learn more about herself. Quinntana AU.
1. Prologue

**First of all I want to apologize in advance for the grammatical mistakes in this fic. English isn't my first language, but I'll do my best to proofread the chapters a thousand times before I post them. Secondly; this is my first fanfic, so bear with me, please. Thirdly; This story is AU, I've decided not to use too many characters from the show so that means that there will be a lot of OCs. Quinn and Santana are of course in it, but there will also be mentions of Finn and Brittany (Maybe Kurt and Rachel I haven't decided yet). Lastly; Quinn hasn't been pregnant or in a car accident, also Quinn and Santana don't know each other. But enjoy! Also, I'm sorry if my description of the places we visit are not 100% correct, I'll try my best though!**

Most people don't like airport. They run around and stress about checking in their luggage, finding the gate in time, and all the waiting and generally the feeling of just being trapped. But I like airports. For me airports represent the beginning of yet another adventure, a new place, new people and maybe even a new beginning.

Waiting in line for the passport check, I take a look at my passport. I've so many stamps from all over the world: Britain, Holland, France, Spain, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and now my first stamp in South Africa and there'll be many more soon.

A year ago I wouldn't have imagined me standing in Africa or any other place, actually, all of this was spontaneous, it wasn't planned at all. After High School I started at Yale University studying law, my whole family was so proud of me, especially my dad. Everything at Yale was great; I got friends easily and classes were good. But everything at home was falling apart without me knowing. Around Thanksgiving, I found out that my parents were getting a divorce, due to the fact that my dad had cheated on my mom. When I was alone with my mom over Christmas break, I started to wonder what I was doing with my life. I always wanted to travel and see the world, but my dad wanted me to go to college right after High School so I didn't waste my time. I realized that I would never have the time, because after school, I would probably get a job, or spent a lot of time looking for one. After this realization I guilt tripped my dad to "sponsor" my tour. He wasn't happy about me taking a semester off, but he still felt guilty about the divorce and the cheating, so he gave in at last. I didn't even feel guilty using my dad like that, we've never been that close and he has enough money anyway.

"Hi miss, can I see your passport please." I hand over my passport to the man behind the glass. He takes a look at it and then at me. "How long are you staying in South Africa?" He asks, looking intently at me. "Only a week. I'm driving up South Africa and then into Namibia.". His frown turns into a smile. "You're going to love Africa. I guarantee that you don't want to leave again." I smile back at him, "I already like it." He laughs sincerely "Have a nice trip, miss.".

After picking up my backpack, I leave the terminal and tries to find my transfer. Pretty quickly I find a sign with my name, even though they spelt my name wrong, it's Quinn Fabray not Quin Fabrey. There's some other names on the sign, but it looks like I'm the first one, hopefully the others won't take too long.

* * *

Driving through Cape Town was interesting. On one side of the freeway you see small shacks for miles, and on the other side you see big expensive houses up the hillside. It's weird seeing poverty and wealth live side by side. Seeing the shacks, leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I feel grateful that I had everything I needed in my childhood.

After an hour drive and dropping other people off, we finally arrived at the hostel I'll be staying in for the night. It looks decent for a hostel, it's a two story white house with a fence around it and a main gate, so it's only people staying at the hostel that can get It looks decent for a hostel, it's a two story white house with a fence around it and a main gate, so it's only people staying at the hostel that can get in and out. Before I started traveling, I was kind of uneasy about staying at hostels, because of strangers, and I wasn't used to stay in places like that. But I've got to learn some great people at hostels in both Europe and Australia.

After checking in, I decided to go to the shared dorm room I'm staying in for the night. The room only contains a sink in the corner, four bunk beds and some lockers, but there isn't much space for anything else. The receptionist shows me the bed, I'm going to use, luckily it's one of the bottom bunks, I don't like sleeping in the top bunk, not after I fell down from one at cheer camp one year. He leaves the room, and I decide to take a nap, after traveling for over 20 hours I'm quite exhausted and I didn't get much sleep on the plane.

* * *

"Do you think she's on the safari? She's so pretty." Even without opening my eyes, I know someone is staring at me, I can just feel it, and it's probably me they're talking about. Have they never learned that it's rude staring at people who's sleeping and it's quite creepy too. "Sh.. Be quiet, or you'll wake her up." Someone says behind her, also a female voice with some accent I can't quite place. "Too late." I say as I sit up and check what time it is, apparently I've been sleeping for over two hours.

"I'm so sorry, it wasn't my intention waking you up!" In front of my bunk are two girls, one of them with blonde hair and fair skin, and the other one with red hair and freckles covering her nose and cheeks, I guess that they're around the same age as me.

"No problem, I forgot to set my alarm anyway, so you kind of saved me from oversleeping." I reply with a small smile before getting up. "I'm Quinn and yes, I am on the Overland Safari from Cape Town to Livingstone." The blonde, who woke me up, smiles. "I'm Louise and she's Katrhine." Kathrine glares at Louise and cut her off before she continuous talking. "Hey, I can talk myself, thank you very much." Okay, these girls don't seem that bad even though they woke me up. "So, where you from?" Kathrine directs at me. "I'm from Ohio, you know in the United States." They both chuckle "We know Ohio. We're both from Norway, you know where that is?"

* * *

An hour later it was time for the Pre-departure meeting. We meet up in a huge yellow truck outside the hostel, and supposedly that truck is my new home for the next three weeks.

"Can everyone take a seat, please, and then we will get started." A smiling African man calls out. "Hi, I'm going to be your guide for this entire safari. Everyone calls me Mr. Bombastic, so I expect you guys to do it too." He tries to glare intimidating at us, but end up laughing, then he points to the back of the truck. "Your turn, my brother."

Another African man nods. "Hi, I'm James, it's not my real name, because that is too hard to pronounce, so yeah, you can call me James. I'm going to be your driver, and the girl you're sitting in is Rufiji. She's a truck, not a bus. I'm a truck driver, not a bus driver. If I hear anyone calling her a bus, you're going to pay me or I will kick you out, and you can run after the truck." He looks absolutely serious and when I'm looking around I can see some terrified faces.

Mr. Bombastic just laughs "Don't be fooled, he's very serious. Okay, I'll call out your names and just put your hand up when I call your name: Daniel, Hannah, Kathrine, Lily, Marijke, Mei-Zehn, Quinn, Ryan, Santana.."

Everyone looks around when no one puts up their hand. "Anyone who knows Santana Lopez and why she's not here?" Mr. Bombastic asks, when no one answers he continues. "Oh okay, we'll try to contact her.. Tobias and Tony are you here?" Both guys put up their hands and nod.

"Okay, then let's get started maybe Santana will be joining us later. Some of you are going with us all the way up to Nairobi and others will be leaving the tour after three weeks in Livingstone. All the information you'll get now, is for the next three weeks and we'll take the information for the rest of the tour then. Okay, we can start with the local payment…"

I zone out after I realize that most of the information is in the papers they already sent me. I decide to take a look at the people that I'm going to spend three weeks with. Some of the girls I've already met and talked to, but some of the others I haven't talked to yet. Most of them are girls, but there are some guys, and it looks like and sounds like it's people from all over the world. I can't stop wondering about what happened to that girl who didn't show. She probably forgot about the Pre departure meeting or just didn't want to show up, or maybe something happened to her.

* * *

After one and a half hour of talking we're finally done, some of the others left for other hostels, so we're only a small group of girls left. It's late and I'm so hungry, because I haven't had anything to eat since my flight, fortunately the two Norwegian girls suggest that we order some pizza.

We're waiting yet another hour before the delivery guy shows up with the pizzas. We all settle down in the small TV room and start eating. When I take the first bite of my pizza I can't help my eyes rolling back, and I almost moan in pure pleasure. I haven't had a decent pizza in a month and there's even bacon on it, it can't get any better. Normally I would feel bad about eating pizza with all the grease and cheese, but in Thailand I ate rice for almost a month, so I think I deserve some pizza.

When everyone's done with their pizza, most of the girls decide to go to bed. Instead of joining them, I decide that I can use some of the precious wifi to Skype my boyfriend Finn. We haven't really talked much since I left 4 months ago, but I should tell him that I got here safely.

"Hi, Finn." He turns up on the screen, the angle not very flattering because he's laying down in his bed. "Hi, babe.."

**Author's note: I promise that we'll meet Santana in the next chapter, don't worry :-) If you think that this is going to be a shit story and that I'm just wasting my time writing, please leave me a note!**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Thank you for all the good response and the constructive criticism, it means so much that people take time to comment. I'm sorry for the long wait, I forgot how time consuming school is! Chapter two might take some weeks since I have exams soon. But enjoy the chapter, and please comment if you have anything you think could be better or any ideas.**

* * *

**Chapter One**

My neck is stiff when I wake up, and I'm too excited to go back to sleep, so I get out of bed instead. It's still dark outside, and the others are still sleeping peacefully in their beds. I grab my toiletries and my towel that I placed on my shelf the night before, and I walk as quietly as I can out of the dorm room.

When I get to the bathroom, I close the door and turn on the water before taking off my clothes. I step under the hot water, one of the good things about waking up early at a hostel, you have to be fast if you prefer hot showers. My muscles in my neck and back's stiff from the long travel yesterday, I sigh when the warmth helps soothing them, making me more relaxed.

After finishing up my shower, I dress, brush my hair, put on my make up and brush my teeth. Opening the door, I step out into the cold corridor, and immediately something crashes right into my body. "Shit!" A female voice barks out. "I'm so sorry." I have my hand on my chest, and I try to control my breathing, because I'm pretty sure that I almost had a heart attack. When I look up, I see a girl glaring angrily at me and she's pointing her finger in my face.

"Maybe you should look where you are going the next time, Blondie." She hisses through clenched teeth, before storming down the corridor. For a moment I'm confused about what actually happened, someone isn't a morning person, that's for sure.

* * *

I finish packing my things again, I decide that I have some time for breakfast before we leave at 8 am. Walking into the shared kitchen, I quickly spot the girl from this morning, she's having a conversation with Mei-Zehn. It looks more like a one sided conversation though, because the brunette is just staring at Mei-Zehn, like she wants to choke her

"Hi, can a have some toast and bacon, please?" I ask the cook, who's an old woman, she barely nods and I'm not sure she even heard me.

"Excuse me, can I have.." She whips around and looks me up and down glowering.

"Yes yes, I'll come with food when done." Everyone really is in a good mood today. Without saying anything else, I go sit down with the two other girls, but only because it's the only table.

"You're not getting your food in time, because that woman will probably die before our food is done." The brunette says with a grunt and shoots daggers at the old woman. I look at her, despite the dark circles under her eyes, she's quite beautiful; she has long jet black hair, olive skin and deep brown eyes, she's probably Hispanic or something, so I guess this is Santana Lopez who wasn't at the meeting yesterday.

Before I can answer her, Mei-Zehn cuts in. "Quinn, this is Santana, who wasn't at the Pre Departure meeting yesterday, her flight was delayed so she arrived in the middle of the night! We slept in the same room that's why I know."

I glance at Santana again, and realize that she's now studying my face. We lock eyes for just a second before I look away, for some reason I can feel a blush creeping up my neck. I figure that I better say something, so I just mutter a "that sucks."

Santana opens her mouth, and is just about to say something when the old woman arrives with our food. She tosses it down on the table, and I try to smile politely at her

"Thanks." The old woman just grunts and walks away. I take a look at the time and realize it's already late, so I just eat my bacon and take some bites of the toast.

* * *

Mr. Bombastic tells us that we have to pick a locker, and put our stuff in there, I'm the last one with Santana to pick a locker. I get one closest to the door and in the bottom row, and it's impossible to get all my stuff to fit in there. Finally, I get my backpack in there and put on the lock, I look up at Santana, who got one of the lockers in the top row, and she can't quite reach.

"You need some help?" I offer, for a moment she doesn't answer and just tries to stand on her toes to get it in. When she realizes it's impossible for her to get it in, she looks hesitantly at me before sighing.

"Um, okay, can you see if you can reach, you're taller than me so.." I smile at her before walking over, and I accidentally touches her arm with my hand and she flinches. For a moment I'm puzzled, but I notice that her arms starting to shake, so I quickly grab the backpack.

"I got it." She steps away from me when I have it, and I push the heavy backpack in the small locker. After closing the locker, she hands me her lock and I put it on.

"Maybe we should shift lockers, mine is the bottom row." I suggest. She looks contemplating for a moment before nodding and giving me a small smile.

"Thanks," she says, before jumping out of the truck.

Mr. Bombastic talks for a while about the Township Tour we're going on. Apparently, we're not driving the truck, but a small bus and it's another man that's our guide. "Okay guys, jump in the bus and we'll see you later!" Everyone shuffles into the small bus and I'm one of the last ones to enter. When I get inside there's only one seat left, and that's right beside Santana. Even though my first impression of her wasn't that great, I'm ready to give her a new chance, and she was nice to me a couple of minutes before.

"Can I sit here?" I ask. She looks up at me and seems hesitant for a second, then she shrugs her shoulders.

"Sure, there's not really any seats left anyway." I frown at that. What happened to her being nice five minutes ago? Instead of answering her, I just sit down, this girls mood changes like the weather.

Driving through Cape Town was not as fun as expected. The only thing we see are places where the apartheid has affected the community, but there isn't much to see. We can't even see the Table Mountain, because it's overcast, maybe going to Africa in their winter season was a bad idea. Santana is just sitting looking out of the window with her arms crossed for most of the tour. At some point she even slept, her eyes closed and her breath misting on the window. Actually, she's so much nicer while sleeping and she looks so relaxed and sometime she scrunches her nose and I have to admit it's kind of cute. I wonder if I should wake her up, but apparently she hadn't slept much last night, so i figured she could use some sleep and it's not like she's missing out.

Suddenly, the bus stop in a neighborhood. "Okay guys, now we're going out, and visit some of the local community projects. We're on foot and the bus will leave, so bring all the stuff you're going to need" Finally, something happens, but beside me Santana's still sleeping.

I touch her arm gently. "Santana, you have to wake up now, we have to get out." She huffs and scrunches her nose and I can't help smiling.

"Not now Britt, I'm sleepy." She mumbles almost unintelligible, waving her hand at me. I frown and I try again, this time grabbing her arm and shaking her gently.

"Santana, it's Quinn and you have to get up now." I look around and realize that everyone has already left the bus and is waiting outside. She wakes up a little and looks confused at me. She blinks her eyes a couple of times before realizing where she is. "Oh yeah, fuck, I'm coming."

I join everyone outside of the bus, I take my bag with me and takes out my Nikon camera. "Be careful someone's not going to steal that camera, it looks expensive, did daddy give it to you?" Santana pipes in behind me, coming out of the bus.

And she's back to being a bitch. I turn around and she's looking at me with a big smirk on her face, she still looks tired though. "Look who's awake." I huff and rolling my eyes, she was definitely mocking me and unfortunately she was also right.

We've been walking for some time, and visited some of community projects which are about relocating families to better houses. One of the houses we visited wasn't that big, and twenty people lived there. Later the local people wanted us to taste the local beer and it tasted awful.

Walking back a little girl runs towards me, and points at my camera. "Can I take a picture" I ask smiling. She doesn't answer, but poses for the camera, so I snap a picture of her, and right after she hugs my leg. I squat down beside her "Hi, What's your name?" She doesn't answer, but hugs me instead and my heart melts.

"Want me to take a picture, Blondie?" Santana reaches out and grabs my camera without my consent, but the girl poses, so I smile for the camera while Santana takes some pictures.

Santana takes a look at the pictures she's taken. "Now you have the obligatory white girl with a black kid photo." She hands me the camera and I send her a glare.

I stand up and take the camera from her. "Why are you such a bitch?" Santana crosses her arms over her chest, and I glimpse something in her eyes before she looks away. "I just am." For a moment I feel bad for calling her a bitch, but she's kind of asking for it.

Santana is about to turn away from me, when the little girl jumps over to Santana and hugs her legs. Santana gasps surprised, and looks absolutely uncomfortable. She looks like she doesn't know how to react, so she just pats the girl on the head like a dog. "You can go now." She mutters, and right before the girl runs off, I take a picture of the scene in front of me.

"What was that?" I chuckle, before taking a look at the picture which is hilarious. She glares at me before turning away. "Shut up, I don't like kids."

* * *

After eating lunch at a local restaurant it was time for us to leave Cape Town. We got into the truck and I decided to sit at one of the tables with the Norwegian girls Louise and Kathrine, and the german guy Tobias. Santana is the last one to get on the truck, she stops by our table, but she realizes that there's no more seats left, so she moves in front of the bus and sits by herself.

Driving through the beautiful landscape of the South Africa's Western Cape, I talk with the Norwegian girls and Tobias most of the way, and they're really nice. Sometimes, I glance in Santana's direction, she's listening to music and looking out of the window. I kind of feel bad that she's sitting all by herself, but it's her own fault that people don't talk to her, I've overheard her bitching about of some of the guys, and I even heard that some of them are afraid of her.

Three hours of driving and we arrive at the Highlanders, which is a beautiful area with vineyards and mountains in the background. Mr. Bombastic stands up in the truck and tries to get everyone's attention.

"Welcome to the Highlanders, we'll be staying here for the night. Shortly, we'll be pitching our tents, and afterwards, if you like, there'll be wine tasting, and it's only 10$, how many wants to go?."

I look around and it looks like most people are going. Normally I don't drink that much, but it's a great opportunity to learn the others, so I raise my hand too.

"Great, all of you are going! After wine tasting dinner will be served. Now, if you go out, James will show you, how to pitch up the tents."

After I left the truck, I get the full view of the camping area. It's not huge, but there's an outside kitchen, and the bathroom looks nice. But the most amazing thing is the view; the campsite is up the hillside, and is overlooking the vineyards which is stretching for miles. Furthest back, the sun is starting to set behind the mountains.

"Okay guys, first, I hope that you enjoyed the drive here. I know the roads are very bumpy, and it's only going to be worse. But here in Africa we call it African massage, and there's going to be a lot of it on this tour." James jokes, and everyone chuckles.

"Okay, but listen up: You're going to share twin tents, two and two, you decide who you're sleeping with. So, it's very simple to pitch the tents, just watch me do it first." James explains, and then starts to pitch up the tent, and I have to agree it looks very easy. After he's done, I take a look around, to find someone to partner up with, but it looks like everyone is two and two.

"I think it's going to be me and you, Blondie." A voice I'm already quite familiar with says behind me and I grimace. I really don't want to sleep in the same tents as Santana for three weeks, I can barely stand her, and I'm never going to survive all of her mood swings. I turn around, plastering a smile on my face. "Yeah, I guess."

Putting up a tent isn't that easy, when the person that's supposed to help you is playing angry birds on her iPhone not even looking up. For some time, I just try to do it myself, swearing under my breath when nothing seems to work.

"Santana, are you going to help me or what?" I stand up and put my hands on my hips, trying to look as stern as possible, maybe that will help. She looks up from her phone and then at me, when she doesn't answer I just raise an eyebrow.

"I am helping, I'm supervising, and you're doing a great job." She replies after some time, before looking down at her phone again.

"Are you serious! Come help me now!" I snap, this girl is really good at pushing me. She glances my way, and a moment later she puts her phone in her pocket with a sigh.

"Jesus, calm your tits." I just look incredulously at her, while she grabs the tent poles, and looks at me with a smug smile.

"Are you going to help or what?" She says over her shoulder while trying to put the poles together. I just stare at her gaping, this girl can't be serious, if I have to live with her for three weeks, then I'm going to end up killing her. I try to take a deep breath, trying to calm down because I'm so close to hit her, and I don't want to look like a psycho in front of everyone. The worst thing is that she's just looking at me with a smug smile on her face, like she's pissing me off on purpose which she's probably doing.

After calming down, I just huff and grab the other end of the poles. I'm trying to put the poles together, when I accidentally smashes Santana in the face, and I can't help the chuckle that escapes from my mouth. "Oops.." She glares at me. "You did that on purpose!" I just shrug my shoulders and smile, "You deserved it."

* * *

After pitching up the tent with Santana, I'm really glad that I'm going to the wine tasting. After the sunset, the moon started rising and the stars started glinting in the sky. It's amazing how easy it is to see the stars out here. But with the sun gone, the temperature keeps dropping and it's already cold. I knew it could be cold in Africa's winter time, but I had no idea that it would be this cold, so I decide to put on a sweater and walk with the others to the restaurant.

I sit at the end of the long wooden table beside the fireplace. The wine tasting is about to begin, when Santana comes in late. She struts through the room, and stops on the other side of the table in front of me. She stares Mei-Zehn down, who's in front of me, and puts her hands on her hips. "Move." She commands, and I look at her incredulously, and then at Mei-Zehn, who looks intimidate. Mei-Zehn quickly scoot closer to Marijke and Santana then sits down. Some people are looking at Santana, but she just sends a glare their way and they immediately look away. I look at her unimpressed with a raise eyebrow. She turns her gaze at me. "What?"

The wine tasting begins, and the owner of the vineyard starts talking about the area and his place. After his talk, he sends two bottles of the first wine around, and everyone pours a glass while he talks about the wine. This continues for the next five different wines, and after the last bottle everyone's slightly tipsy, probably because of drinking on an empty stomach.

After everyone finished dinner and dessert, Mr. Bombastic stands up and claps his hands. "Listen up everyone, I think we should get to know each other better. You can tell us something about yourself for instance your name, age, relationship status, where you from, your occupation, why you're here and what you're looking forward to." I'm sitting next to him so he tells me to start.

I clear my throat and look around at all the faces turned towards me. "Hi, I'm Quinn Fabray, I'm 19 years old and I'm from Lima, Ohio. Um, what else. In the fall, I started at Yale University studying law, but I decided to take a semester off to travel. I wanted to go on this tour, because I wanted to see Africa, and I read a lot good things about this trip. The thing I'm looking forward to the most is probably the dunes. Anything I miss.."

"Your relationship status." Santana inquires , while looking at intently at me and I glance back for a moment. I feel my cheeks burning, so I look around instead.

"I have a boyfriend." I reply, and take a quick look at Santana, who just have a blank expression edge on her features. Nobody asks any further questions, and Louise starts telling about herself.

Santana's the last one, she sits up straighter and glance around and she starts fidgeting with her hands. "I'm Santana Lopez and I'm 19. I've moved a lot my whole life, but I've lived in San Diego, California for almost 2 years. I'm.." She trails off for a moment, before continuing, "I'm single. I don't go to school because I don't know what to do with my life yet, but I've been working on two jobs all year so I could afford this trip. I'm doing this overland thing, because afterwards I'm going to work on a farm, and I wanted to see some of Africa before that. I don't know what I look forward to the most."

After the round of talking about ourselves, we decided to keep the party going, so people bought drinks and more wine. The bartender turns up the music, and some people jump up and starts dancing. Mei-Zehn drags me to the dance floor and I can't help laughing. Daniel, one of the British guys, has this silly dance that everyone tries to do, but some people are too drunk so they're just keep falling over themselves. I'm not that drunk, but I feel light headed and the room is kind of spinning, so I stop dancing for a second. I spot Santana sitting at the table fiddling with her phone, I wonder why she's not dancing with us, and I know for sure that she's not sober, because she has been drinking twice as much as me. Before thinking twice, I stagger over to her.

"Come dance with us." I giggle while taking the phone out of her hand and place it on the table. I grab her hand, and yank it. She stares at me with huge eyes for a second, before taking her wine glass with her free hand and gulps down the last wine in her cup. She stands up and walks to the dance floor with the others. "Show me your moves, Blondie." She says with a grin on her face.

* * *

"Seriously Blondie, try to at least walk straight." Maybe I drank a bit too much, I'm kind of dizzy and I keep bumping into Santana. I just huff in response, and try to figure out where our tent is, even though I was there for a couple of minutes ago. Finally, I locate it and I happily strut over there and zip it open. After getting in, I just throw myself down at my mattress.

"Maybe I should just drink every night, then I won't freeze!" Santana just rolls her eyes, and starts opening her sleeping bag.

"Please don't, I don't want to babysit you every night." I turn my head and look at her, pouting. She just looks at me amused.

"Goodnight, Blondie." She turns off her flashlight, and for some time I just stares into the darkness in her direction.

"Wait, we can't sleep! I need to write in my diary!" I almost shout and I can faintly notice Santana jumping up into a sitting position. She just groans. "You can do it tomorrow, nerd."


End file.
